Villa Stu

3 hours ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Hate to put a downer on this but is that not a bit premature. Hogan is proven at this level yet Davis, as impressive as He was today, has for me only shown this in one game

Whilst I kind of agree with what you are saying regarding hogan, McCormack is the most proven goal scorer at this level so would you put him ahead of the rest? For me it is not about being proven with different clubs but what the performance is like on match day in a villa shirt, so for now I would say Davis should be starting the next match up front until there is a reason to drop him whether that be a bad game or him being subbed off and someone coming on and offering more than he did. He suits us at the minute he is good in the air, strong and direct which is what we need plus he holds the ball up well and can bring others into play. Keep up the hard work Davis and long may this form continue. UTV

Why is he still here? He needs to go now so that the new manager has enough time to get things right. The football is atrocious and we make the worst teams in the league look like they should be competing in the premier league. He needs to go before his useless idiotic approaches ruin another season

Tony has backed us massively already. regardless of the clubs current financial situation we still have a bloated squad that should be reduced before we consider any more incomings. I think Xia and the board realise that it is no good in the long run with the current squad size as either way it is unsustainable, if we go up we need to shift a lot of players to build a new squad and if we do not go up we need to shift a few players to help us balance the books.

The best thing for me that Tony can do is get rid of Bruce and hire a manager (and coaches) that have the football philosophy to get the best out of the current crop of players already at the club. Tony has assembled the most expensive team in EFL history and sees the tripe that happens on match days when he knows as well as all of us that on paper we have a great squad for this level. 

Tony is not the problem, the players (imo) are not the problem, it is the management and coaching that is. He would be better off using any funds we have available replacing Bruce which would be the best bit of business we could do right now.

19 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

Exactly.

A lot of people didn't like it when some of us accused him of making excuses pre-season re Grealish, but I think very few would still think that criticism wrong.

As I said at the time, look at the comparison between his words and those of Terry.

Bruce is a dead man walking, the only question is how long is the walk.

Hopefully not long at all, after the Bristol game? It would give the new manager a couple of weeks to put his style in to the way we approach games. My only worry is that would be 3 more league games of Bruce tripe.

11 minutes ago, lapal_fan said:

1. Have there been others?  I only went the other day because my mate was on holiday, my last season ticket was MON's last season, and even had he have stayed, I said I wasn't getting another one because I didn't find it entertaining anymore, which is what football is to me.  I go very irregularly now, and it's mostly because of time constraints, but other fans and their moaning is another reason - I don't go to hear some numbskulls opinions on his current fixation of hate/dislike. 

2. I'm not a better fan than anyone, probably worse because I genuinely don't care how Villa do anymore.  I'm a Villa "fan" if people ask, but I don't care if we lose or draw.  It's nice when we win though and I like reading about how we've done when we win - players to look out for, who did well etc.  

The best fans are those who are passionate, are able to give reason or understanding to decisions they wouldn't have made themselves and understand that football is about 2 teams trying to beat each other and the inevitability that occasionally, their team will lose/have a bad day.  Back the team, even when it doesn't go well and appreciate opposition who do well against us. 

If you do not care then why take the time out of your day to post on here? I get that not all fans can watch all games but if they are posting on here then surely they care about the results of the team and want us to do well

29 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

You're probably right. It's not necessarily that we lack pace, but don't use it properly. The other issue I have is that Jack Grealish, for all his talent, slows the game down too much, so we let defenders get back and organised. When he's fit, he needs to address this and try to play the early ball more often, which would help Hogan a lot. You're spot on Hogan has great movement but his runs are rarely spotted. 

You are right mate at times grealish can be the best on the pitch or the most frustrating and like you say he needs to work on it. I was quite hopeful about McCormack and hogan playing together and getting a good understanding/partnership but that doesn't look like it will ever happen now. McCormack had all the qualities needed for that role and it's frustrating that another player has not worked out for us

12 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

As most people seem to think, I believe we do have a decent squad and we need to manager to set us up to play to the squad's strengths. However I think our weakness is pace. We lack it in many areas of the pitch and for a team that doesn't create much through the middle, we at least need pace out wide and for counter attacks. 

I think the issue is with us not countering as a team. When someone counters they tend to find themselves as the only one and run into trouble/have to pass backwards. We have some pacey players mate in green, onomah, Kodjia, hogan, gabby, adomah and Elmo. They just don't move as a unit yet which can be resolved by coaching and positive/attacking tactics.

I agree that we do not create much at all though the middle which needs to be improved on to start winning games. The runs that hogan was making on Saturday were barely seen by our cm's and they tended to pass out to the wings or to another cm

Hogan had a very good first half, he made runs to draw out defenders and was creating chances. He had 2 or 3 good chances that against most keepers in this league he would have buried the one that particularly stands out is when he went past a couple of players and found himself one on one with mccregor who pulled of a great save to deny him. If he can play like he did Saturday (first half) all season we could have a very good player imo. Second half he didn't get any service and ended up being a passenger like a number of others but he should have been the one to stay on the field over gabby I think he would have linked up better with green and onamah 

4 hours ago, Czechlad said:

I'm going to be pretty angry if Hourihane gets phased out with Onomah now in the squad. Hourihane was the league leader in assists and had a decent amount of goals before he signed for us. 

If Hourihane gets limited minutes due to a loanee that we will not be able to keep, it will really show that Bruce has no clue what he is doing with signings. 

I think us getting players like Onomah, whelen and Elmo will bring out a better side to Hourihane and Lansbury. There are now quite a number of players on the same wave length so hopefully we see that translated into good performances and results.

1 hour ago, Villa Stu said:

The same can be said about McCormack mate, he has been the most prolific striker in this league for the last 5-6years. The issue with hogan is that he just goes completely missing. When McCormack is having a bad game (which if we are honest, it is more often than it should be) he will still be chasing down and trying to make something happen. Hogan just looks lost and for me offers very little to us.

Well Hogan made me eat my words in that game. More of the same please Scott. If he plays like that and stays fit he will have a good season. Elmo and O'Hare looked good as well today.

9 minutes ago, alreadyexists said:

Hogan has played 5 times which is an amazingly small sample size to make a judgement on a player.

McCormack has played 13... but there's more to that story than just game time. But either way he's not lost his ability, but perhaps his motivation? Perhaps McCormack only flourishes in a side where he is the main focus, and perhaps you have to play like Leeds or Fulham did to get the best out of him, which ultimately did not get them promoted even with his goal scoring.

Hogan played 13 and McCormack about 18/19.

McCormack also had the ability to bring other players in and got assists/created chances. Look how well he played with Dembele.

4 minutes ago, praisedmambo said:

Preseason means absolutely nothing. Ok, looking at other stats it's maybe 9 starts and 4 sub appearances. I still think it's way too soon to write him off. He's obviously done well at Brentford and he is still new to the club. Since he's been here, we've had a bad run and he's been injured. I feel too much that people judge everything on a game by game basis. Bruce for example—people are ignoring the fact that his previous teams have been capable attacking wise and just we were uninspiring last season he's a clueless manager. Surely the context of us being shit for seven years up to his arrival might have some effect (for example)? In this light, I think we haven't got the best out of Hogan the way Brentford were, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. I have seen promising moments from Hogan and there's no way I'm writing him off—especially not based on 'no improvement in pre-season'. This is before the beginning of the season in a time when fitness is down. No player should be better in preseason than they are in the league proper imo. 

In all honesty mate I hope you are right and I am wrong, he has shown glimpses of something whilst also going missing at times. I hope he smashes it this year and he and Kodjia build a deadly partnership. At the same time though I don't think he suits our play and we don't have/haven't allowed our more creative players create for him. 

One thing is certain we need to get someone else firing along with Kodjia, whether that is hogan, McCormack, gabby, RHM, Davis or someone new I don't care as long as it happens.

7 minutes ago, praisedmambo said:

He's only played five games. Why do people always do this! 

What did he do in those five (or thirteen) games for us last season? Has he shown any improvement so far in preseason? He has been awful for us and doesn't suit us. 

14 hours ago, DaveAV1 said:

I agree Hogan has been poor so far, but he was scoring plenty before he arrived. He just doesn't suit our "style" of play and if we continue to play the same way, with virtually zero creativity, he'll be a waste of time. His way of playing is to run the channels and pick up through balls, which never arrive. I agree he doesn't do any of the things you list above, but I don't believe he ever has. We bought the wrong player for how we play. I feel a bit sorry for him really. Well as sorry as you can feel for a bloke who plays football and picks up a year's wages every week. 

The same can be said about McCormack mate, he has been the most prolific striker in this league for the last 5-6years. The issue with hogan is that he just goes completely missing. When McCormack is having a bad game (which if we are honest, it is more often than it should be) he will still be chasing down and trying to make something happen. Hogan just looks lost and for me offers very little to us.

3 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

It is not the know how. Lansbury and Hourihane were scoring and creating for fun before they joined us.

It's tactics, and Whelan isn't going to change a thing.

I never said whelen would change a thing. I agree that at previous clubs Hourihane and Lansbury were good players but they have not shown that at the Villa. Some of it is down to tactics but tactics doesn't stop a player showing for the ball or stopping a little movement to make themselves available. Veretout made both of them look very poor in that regard in the 2 preseason games. 

5 minutes ago, Junxs said:

You do realise I was making that point to lead on to how 2 defensive players would transform THAT team into an attacking unit..

People are clutching at straws if they are expecting Terry and Whelan to transform the playing "style". It will be more of the same, trying to nick games by the odd goal with only 2 meaningful attempts each game

From what we have seen in preseason thus far, I have to agree with you. We are lacking the know how to play and make some decent moves to break teams down.

Hopefully though it comes good and we are proved wrong mate, but at this stage it seems very unlikely. 

2 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

Bacuna and great don't belong in the same sentence.

This can't be emphasised enough. Bacuna is very average in a number of positions. He is a good option in a squad due to him being able to play in varied positions, but he is just a squad player in my opinion.

17 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

I remember being excited to be link with Patrick Kluivert one summer, now we are linked with Whelan...... what a mighty fall from grace we have had. 

John Terry signed, linked to Joe Hart at one point also.

I think I'm halfway between looking at the short term to get us promoted and looking to build a team for the PL. I would be happy to sign 1 player that is of the ilk of Chester and Taylor in this window and Jan, along with a few experienced players to get us promoted.

I think we already have Chester, Taylor, De laet and Kodjia that are PL quality and with another season under his belt possibly green. Add 2 players (1 this window, 1 in Jan) then that is potentially 7 PL quality players at our disposal. When we go up we then look to sign around 4-5 real quality players that would give us a good chance going forward.

Obviously there are a few unknowns in our squad as well that we won't know if they can perform in the PL until we get there, the likes of Hourihane, Lansbury etc hopefully they come good and prove that they are good enough for the PL.

20 minutes ago, TRO said:

I was only ever wrong once.....and then found out I was right anyway.

Its interesting how we see things differently......your comments are certainly not without logic and not to be dismissed.

Those 3 players were certainly better at their previous clubs, but I put that down to a number of factors....not necessarily the manager IMO.

I still think we need a Gareth Barry type character to spark it all off......I think the forwards are good enough, but were cut loose last season and isolated.

I will be much happier, when I see our ball winning much higher up the pitch and subsequently the forwards have a shorter distance to wreak havoc.

I am hoping we keep veretout mate, I think he could possibly play that Barry role well. 

In all honesty it was always going to be difficult for Hogan here last season, after all we had set up with pretty much just Kodjia up too quite a lot and he was never going to be displaced. With Hourihane and Lansbury coming in you would have hoped that we could play 2 up top but it didn't work, we just got overran. 

Hopefully this season we can find a system and players to suit playing 2 up top and with Kodjia not 100% McCormack and Hogan have a chance to make their mark at Villa.

Just now, Czechlad said:

Difference is those 3 are seen as depth now instead of starters. I am fine with them being at the club in a sub role. Tshibola is young and still has potential. Gardner is an alright midfielder for the championship. Bacuna is very versatile so he can cover numerous spots. 

Gardner is awful, I would be over the moon if he was to leave. In all honesty I think it would be a good move for him to help him rejuvenate his career. Tshibola I would look at loaning out to get him some first team games. Bacuna I would be happy to keep because of his versatility, however I would not be upset if he was to leave. 

In all honesty I think if he was to stay fit that Lyden would be above all 3 in the pecking order

6 minutes ago, Czechlad said:

 

I'd like to keep him. He'd definitely be a step above the competition in the championship. Having Lansbury, Hourihane, Veretout, Jedinak at the start of the season vs last season when we started with Tshibola, Westwood, Bacuna and Gardner is a massive difference in quality. 

We still have 3 out of the 4 from the start of last season but hopefully not for long.

I would be over the moon to keep veretout, I think he would be a great player in the championship and hopefully help with his passing and always showing for the ball.

13 minutes ago, chrisvilla4 said:

 

I agree 100% mate

17 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

One of my biggest criticisms of Veretout when in the prem was that he looked unfit and too slow for the English league. Did he looked improved on these aspects last night?

It didn't show mate, but in fairness it was against Telford mate. A lot of the play went through him and he was always showing for the ball and can actually pass a ball, something that is unheard of from a Villa player of late

If Kodjia isn't fit I would go:

               Hogan  McCormack 

Green   Lansbury   Veretout   Adomah

Taylor      Chester      Terry      Hutton

                   Johnstone

We would then have the likes of grealish, Hourihane, RHM that could be brought on from the bench.

If Kodjia isn't 100% I would not want to risk him and same for Jedinak.